Emma Copley Eisenberg spent several years researching the murders of Vicki Durian, 26, and Nancy Santomero, 19, on June 25, 1980 as they were traveling in West Virginia to the Rainbow Gathering. The Rainbow Gathering (a festival which drew wanderers, hippies, and back to the earth proponents) was held somewhere different each year. In 1980 it was held in southeastern West Virginia. Because of the girls were traveling to the Rainbow Gathering, their murders were called The Rainbow Murders. A third girl, the title's Third Rainbow Girl, Elizabeth Johndrow, had been hitchhiking with Vicki and Nancy, but was not with them at the time of their deaths.

I selected this book because it was advertised as a true crime book. To my dismay, the author decided to write about her own experiences and thoughts, and spends more time on her personal musings than on the murders which were supposed to be the focus of the book. What?!?!? Why are they in there? Big disappointment.

It is very rare that I do not finish a book I start, but this one made that short-list. Beware the bait and switch!!

My thanks to NetGalley and Hachette Books for allowing me to read a copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. All opinions expressed are my own.

I really wanted to enjoy this book but I just can't. It's a hybrid, to say the least, of true crime and memoir and travelogue. It really gives you a sense of WV and Pocahantos County. It also gives you a sense of the crime but then it confuses you by going into more of a memoir of the author. It meandered along like a lot of country roads in WV without a lot of asphalt. If you've been to WV, then you know what I'm talking about! There's just not a lot there. In the case of the book, there may be too much along the side of the road that leaves you trying to hang on to the asphalt but it's really difficult. Not a good read IMHO.
I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher and voluntarily chose to review it.

What starts as a true crime story meanders its way into a partial memoir of the author and her time spent in West Virginia and creates a hybrid nonfiction book rarely seen.
Two girls heading to the Rainbow Gathering, a Burning-Man-ish, free-love festival of sorts, in 1980, turn up murdered in deeply rural West Virginia. This book chronicles the investigation that follows over the course of 15 years with little, if any, resolve. Interspersed is the author's chronicle of her coming-of-age in the same geographic area and how the region, people, and lifestyle shaped her formative early adult years. While seemingly unrelated (and initially confusing), these segments of her personal story add to the rich, unvarnished, sometimes misunderstood setting where the murders took place.
Interviews, depositions, and disappointing dead ends slow the pace of the story but never to a complete halt. This is a solid addition to the true crime genre, those of which tell of crimes that frustratingly go unsolved.

In 1980, while hitchhiking to the Rainbow Gathering, Vicki Durian and Nancy Santomero were murdered on isolated Droop Mountain in Pocahontas County, West Virginia. Law enforcement and locals alike believed only someone in the community would have the knowledge required to commit the “Rainbow Murders,” and for years, rumor swirled around a group of men from the area, with accusations levied and reputations maligned.

Only in 1993 was Jacob Beard, a farmer, mechanic, and construction worker, brought to trial and convicted based on witness accounts, including an acquaintance with a third-grade education and a man who had been assaulted while in police custody. However, he was acquitted and awarded a $2 million settlement when Joseph Paul Franklin, a white supremacist already imprisoned for a string of murders (and the man who shot and paralyzed Larry Flynt) confessed.

The case pitted neighbor against neighbor and propagated the “hick monster” stereotype of toxic masculinity—and the effect of both lingers in the community today while the area is still scarred from the violence of the murders and the loss of life.

Emma Copley Eisenberg learned of the Rainbow Murders when she was a VISTA volunteer in the area after college. Unaware of the details, she’d even camped on Droop Mountain. While in West Virginia, she became connected to the area and also curious about the murders—some locals still believe Beard is the killer—catalyzing her to undertake the meticulous research and interviews for 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘥 𝘙𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘣𝘰𝘸 𝘎𝘪𝘳𝘭.

As an excellent example of the literary true crime genre, of which I would also include 𝘍𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘏𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘥 𝘙𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘣𝘰𝘸 𝘎𝘪𝘳𝘭 is unexpected, difficult, and rewarding. Rather than tell the story completely chronologically, she begins with a biography of the women and what they experienced. Other sections include the investigation and the Beard trial. Interspersed are memoir-like chapters of Eisenberg’s times in Pocahontas County that recount the effect of the land and the people on her and form the foundation of her commitment to telling this story.

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘥 𝘙𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘣𝘰𝘸 𝘎𝘪𝘳𝘭, though, is more than the story of the Rainbow Murders as it contextualizes the investigation, trial, and aftermath and illuminates the cultural context in which they occurred.

I wanted to read this book because it was said to be the true crime story of Nancy Santomero and Vicki Durian, who were murdered on their way to the Rainbow Gathering in 1980. This was a story about them and what happened, but there was also a lot of extra stuff in it that I thought was unnecessary. I was thinking that this was going to be set up like how other true crime stories are set. Or at least in a similar fashion.

Emma Copley Eisenberg decided to write this from a research perspective and from her own. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I didn’t feel as though the two parts fit together. Sometimes it was okay, but for the most part, the portions that were about the author seemed to just add unnecessary content. I think it would have been better if those sections had been shorter. There was also a lot of history and information about location, which I felt was unnecessary. Overall, there were just too many things added in that took away from the murders and case.

I do think that the research and portions on the crime were well done, but there was just not enough about it to really make this a full true crime book. I think this could have been shorter and split into two stories. One could have been on the research and events on the murder, and the other could have been a memoir of the authors time in West Virginia where the murders happened.

I had high expectations for this book but it didn't deliver. The summary sounded great, but I had a hard time getting into the story. It seemed to move too slow for me. Lots of potential, but just didn't grab me like I had hoped.

I was so excited to read this book, and did enjoy it, but I found there were too many points of the book that bored me with what I found to be extraneous details.

I wouldn’t exactly call this true crime but it was definitely a good read. They gave away all the true crime aspects at the beginning of the book so I would call it more of a story based on true crime.

While I love a memoir and investigation into a person or area, I think my expectations for this to be more of a true-crime deep dive made this book disappointing for me as the reader. This may just have been one of those situations where I thought this would be a different kind of book based on the book summary.

I struggled to engage with the content because I was really wishing I could get more information about the actual events related to these cases. I have recently enjoyed some of the books that portray life in Appalachia that were quite compelling but this one just felt hard to engage with. The Third Rainbow Girl ended up being such a slow read for me and it just didn't hold my interest. While there was some relevant information a lot of it just seemed unnecessary and way too drawn out.

Thank you to NetGalley, LibroFM and Hachette books for advanced copies. All opinions are my own.

Free ARC from Net Galley.

In Cold Blood, you think? Not me, more memoir than true crime, I guess this is the modern version or technique. Not for me

Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC!

Emma Copley Eisenberg’s The Third Rainbow Girl is an ambitious book. It weaves together several complex narrative threads: the clash between the “hippie” culture of the Rainbow Group and rural Appalachia, the story of two murdered girls and one girl who lived, the story of one accused murderer and one confessed murderer, and the story of the author’s own experiences in West Virginia as she grew into herself and found her voice.

In recent years there have been several popular books with competing portrayals of Appalachia such as Hillbilly Elegy, Ramp Hollow, and What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia. As a native West Virginian, I was drawn to the book because I wanted to see what portrayal dominated in this version. Eisenberg concentrates on what she calls the “twoness” of the state – how it combines elements of the North and the South, how it can be home to devastating natural beauty alongside devastating environmental damage, the deep appeal of home and the struggle of a younger population to get to somewhere else – anywhere else, as well as ecological riches and personal poverty. She shines like on how the people of Appalachia have been othered and how this “otherness” has been key to “allowing absentee corporations to gain control of the region’s natural resources,” extracting lumber and coal and leaving the population poorer – even as that population was blamed for its problems and poverty.

The story of the rainbow girls is a worthy one and well told, but Eisenberg wisely uses it as a light to shine on all of the other aspects she tangles with and seeks to understand – from trying to give Appalachian girls a better future alongside watching the struggles of grown Appalachian men to why West Virginia seems so unknown and unknowable outside of its borders – and that is where the real strength of the book lies. One word of caution for readers who enjoy a traditional narrative: this isn’t one. Like the courtroom testimony and lawyer’s stories that frustrate her, Eisenberg’s story isn’t clear cut and simple. Depending on their interests, readers may respond more strongly to some threads than others. Overall, an exciting look at what it means to push the boundaries of a true crime tale and an insightful look at a region that deserves a better shake in the public consciousness.

3 stars.

Note: The author identifies as queer and I am not sure of their correct pronouns, so I will be using they/their.

Synopsis wise, I will be sharing what the true crime portion of the book is about:

June 25, 1980, Pocahontas County, West Virginia: Vicki Durian, 26, and Nancy Santomero, 19, were found shot in an isolated clearing. The two women had been hitchhiking together from Arizona to West Virginia to get to the Rainbow Gathering (a counterculture gathering) in the area and had last been seen alive in Richmond. Immediately suspicion was thrown onto local men because no one from out of town would know the isolated field.

Multiple men were arrested during the investigation of the slayings, and eventually one man was convicted. However, when a convicted serial killer confesses to the murder, the conviction of Jacob Beard is called into question.

The author tells you from the beginning who is currently in jail for the murders. I'll let you read to find out who.

First and foremost: this is not a true crime book and should not be characterized as such.

It's more of a hybrid of a memoir and true crime book where the author uses their personal life in Pocahontas County, West Virginia to say why they had the right to write a book on the Rainbow murders.

It was about 1/3 facts on the Rainbow murders and 2/3 a memoir on their life of moving from New York to West Virginia to work for VISTA after graduating college.

What I liked about The Third Rainbow Girl: The author went into the misuse of power by the cops and the prosecution misconduct that went into the wrongful conviction in the murder of Vicki Durian, 26, and Nancy Santomero, 19, when they were on their way to the Rainbow Gathering in the area.

What my rating boils down to: I was expecting a true crime book on two murders that I haven't read or heard much about, but instead I got a memoir of reasoning as to why she looked into the murders after living in West Virginia.

Trigger Warnings: Gang rape, murder, drug use, sexual assault, animal abuse, unexpected pregnancy

#NetGalley #The Third Rainbow Girl #Hachette Books

I thought this story sounded very interesting. I tried numerous times over three months to read this and I could not get into the story. It was slow and I felt contained some interesting information and a lot of unnecessary information. I truly hate to give a bad review, but I do have to give an honest one.

The Third Rainbow Girl is part true-crime, part memoir. The author combines the background, the trial, and key people involved in the murders of two girls on their way to the Rainbow Family gather in West Virginia interspersed with her memoir of being a VISTA volunteer with a focus on girls’ education. However, this format didn’t work for me. The memoir sections often felt disjointed and sometimes a random amalgam of the author’s memories. There were parts that I did not feel added to either story. For example, I don’t think reading about the rape at Syracuse University was relevant or added to the story in any way. Another detail that seemed unnecessary was the mention of falling asleep with a guy’s hand between her legs. Why do I need to know that? What does it add to the story? I think there are two separate books here, true-crime and a memoir. I found that I enjoyed reading the Rainbow Girls’ chapters and fought the urge to skim through the memoir sections.

This was just...too much. I did not like the format. It was rambling. A book about a crime like this should be able to hold a reader's interest, but this did not.

3.5 stars
Readers of The Third Rainbow Girl will experience a text structure unlike any other book previously read. It is best described as a mashup of true crime, personal memoir, and cultural history of West Virginia. While this wasn’t what I was expecting based on the book description, I didn’t mind it once I figured out the structure. The fact that the case of the Rainbow Girls was investigated and drawn out over so many years made for interesting reading . I also found the discussions of the cultural differences between Appalachian West Virginia and non-Appalachian US communities fascinating. The area where the book fell somewhat flat for me was the amount of time the author spent talking about herself. It just seemed to ramble and detracted from the “true crime” element of the story in many places. Fans of multiple sub genres of nonfiction will likely enjoy the uniqueness of this book.

Thanks go to NetGalley and Hachette Books for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks for the chance to read this book. I skimmed some parts but the history of West Virginia was fascinating and I learned so much.

This book might appeal to people who want to know the history of the area - or to know all about the author - for fans of true crime? Not so much. The narrative was so bogged down in details about the area where the crimes took place that the actual crimes were pretty much lost. The author obviously did a lot of research on the history and spent quite a bit of time on her feelings of the event; but that's not what I was expecting. The actual crimes seemed practically an afterthought. Just my opinion.

I couldn't get through this book. There was too much background information about the author's life and the surrounding area. I just wanted to read some true crime!

When I saw this book reviewed in Booklist I was really, really excited. I have several friends who have attending the Rainbow Gathering over the years and this sounded like an interesting mix of true-crime and hippie culture. This is not what this book is. The first section of the book is great - when the author focuses on the event that the book is advertised to be about. After that initial first section, it randomly becomes an autobiography that is also trying to be a political commentary on violence against women in American culture. That would be fine since it does sort of relate to the thesis/topic but then she goes off talking about her love interests as a 20-something.

Hearing about the author's love interests & how she related to girls at her camp isn't why I immediately tried to find an ARC of this book upon seeing its Booklist review. Some of the historical facts she presents about the USA are straight up just not accurate (This is not related to the Rainbow Gathering or the case, this is in the section where she talks about herself and her opinions on US politics / history), which is a shame to read in a work of non-fiction.

I got about halfway through before I gave up due to boredom. Maybe it gets better later on?